


Familiar

by AHS



Series: Brian & Justin & Luke & Noah [2]
Category: As the World Turns, Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: M/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-14
Updated: 2011-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-16 23:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHS/pseuds/AHS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Deal."  Just a brief take on how I think B/J in that fic would respond to what happened toward the end of ATWT's run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> Not anti-Luke/Reid but it is Luke/Noah-positive.

 

Brian could never bring himself to just sit down with me and watch a soap. I knew he liked it, he knew he liked it, but he always had to be in the background, at his desk. He’d be going through the motions of work, but I knew he was listening, and when Luke and Noah were on, I’d catch him looking up.

When the Reid character was introduced, I saw Brian give an appreciative sizing up of hotness, then go back to his computer. A few times, I heard him snort at a funny, bitchy Reid line. But, over time, when Reid came into a scene, more and more often I noticed Brian suddenly needing to do something in another room.

When Luke and Noah broke up, I was sad. Those two made-up guys had wound up playing a significant role in Brian’s and my evolution as a couple. But it wasn’t like they hadn’t broken up before. They always got back together (just like we always had), and I figured the Luke and Reid thing could be interesting enough in the meantime. Reid did _occasionally_ remind me of a lovable asshole I knew, after all.

One day, Brian walked into the room when a Luke and Reid scene was on… and immediately turned around, cursing under his breath. I heard the front door _SLAM_. I blinked for a second, then followed after him. I found him on the tennis court, hitting the fuck out of some poor tennis balls. I ducked a few, held up a peace sign with my fingers. He got his breathing under control, walked over to a bench and sat down, and I sat down beside him.

“What is your problem with Reid?”

I asked it half-laughing. I figured it was something like why Mel bugged the hell out of him for the longest time, and sometimes still did. Just a little too similar, maybe. But the look on Brian’s face quickly erased the smile from mine. He almost didn’t make eye contact with me, but then he forced himself to.

“He’s Ethan,” he said quietly.

 _Shit._ I almost said, “What?”, but I stopped myself. I didn’t want to make him say that name - that, amazingly, could still hurt him - again. I wanted to slap myself for not getting it before. Of course he would see him like that. 1500 on my SAT’s, sure, but I was twenty-fucking-seven now, and it turned out I could be remarkably stupid.

All I knew to do was kiss him. To say, “Then he’s not worth getting upset over.” And take his hand and lead him back to the house.

I deprogrammed _As The World Turns_ from the DVR after that.

Daphne kept watching. The show was being fucking canceled and she was determined to hang in ‘til the end. She kept me updated on anything worth knowing. I debated if Brian would get a kick out of seeing Reid’s demise, but apparently there were declarations of love and a wrecked Luke at bedside, so I decided not.

She told me to record the next-to-last show, to see the last Luke and Noah day. And I finally got Brian to sit down and just watch with me. Minus the whole Reid thing, it was really weird and sad and kind of perfect how familiar their ending was. Or their lack of an ending, I should say. Noah going off to California to follow his dreams of being a filmmaker like I went to New York to pursue my art. But you knew they loved each other and that one day, when they were ready, they’d be together. That’s what I told Brian when it was over.

“But _they_ won’t have _them_ doing things on TV to spur them on,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek, pretending he wasn’t still shaken from their last kiss. “So however will they know it’s time?”

“Maybe they’ll have their own favorite couple to watch and give them signs. Maybe from that British remake of _Gay As Blazes_.”

“Christ, they have better taste than that. Being British did not make that shit any better.”

“It doesn’t matter. We didn’t really _need_ Luke and Noah to make us do any of the things we did. For me to move home, for us to get married. Brian Kinney, bend to the whims of a TV show? Or even fate? I don’t think so. We did them because we wanted to. It’ll be the same for them.”

Brian smiled and squeezed my left hand. “Well said, Scrappy.” Then he rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, as if incredibly put out by the conversation. “Okay, enough of the land of make-believe. I’m feeling like doing something I _want to do_ because I _want to do_ it.”

“Hmm. Give me a hint?” I played puzzled, even as he stuck his hand in the waistband of my pants to pull me to him.

He just growled, and laughed. The TV was turned off. And we did what we wanted to each other all night long.


End file.
